Haemodynamic Response - Clinical Use

Clinical Use

Changes in brain activity are closely coupled with changes in blood flow in those areas, and knowing this has proved useful in mapping brain functions in humans. The measurement of haemodynamic response, in a clinical setting, can be used to create images of the brain in which especially active and inactive regions are shown as distinct from one another. This can be a useful tool in diagnosing neural disease or in pre-surgical planning. Functional MRI and PET scan are the most common techniques that use haemodynamic response to map brain function. Physicians use these imaging techniques to examine the anatomy of the brain, to determine which specific parts of the brain are handling certain high order functions, to assess the effects of degenerative diseases, and even to plan surgical treatments of the brain.